Patrick Friesen

Patrick Frank Friesen (born 5 July 1946) is a Canadian author born in Steinbach, Manitoba, primarily known for his poetry and stage plays beginning in the 1970s.

Life and career
Friesen was born into a Mennonite family in Steinbach, Manitoba in 1946. As a child growing up in Steinbach, he was friends with Shingoose, who later became a well-known musician, and Wayne Tefs, future author and co-founder of Turnstone Press. After graduating high school at the Steinbach Collegiate Institute, he studied at the University of Manitoba and lived in Winnipeg for thirty years.

In addition to poetry, Friesen has also written songs and collaborated with dancers, choreographers, composers and musicians. His Mennonite upbringing still influences his writing in work such as "The Shunning", which is about the persecution of a Mennonite farmer questioning his religion. Friesen won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award at the Manitoba Book Awards for his work on "Blasphemer's Wheel," and was runner up in Milton Acorn's People's Poetry Awards. In 1997, his work, "A Broken Bowl", was short listed for the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry.

Friesen collaborated with Per Brask on the translation from Danish of Ulrikka S. Gernes' Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments, which has been shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize. Friesen lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and is a teacher of creative writing at the University of Victoria. He is married to poet Eve Joseph.

Audio

 * Blue Door – 1997 (with Marilyn Lerner)
 * Small Rooms – 2003 (with Marilyn Lerner)
 * Calling the Dog Home – 2005 (with Marilyn Lerner)

Anthologies

 * An Anthology of Prairie Poetry – 1981 (Draft)
 * Ride Off Any Horizon – 1983
 * Visions and Reality – 1985
 * Pieces of the Jigsaw: A Multicultural Anthology for Young Readers – 1986
 * Why I am a Mennonite – 1988
 * Section Lines: A Manitoba Anthology – 1986
 * A Labour of Love – 1989
 * A/long Prairie Lines: An Anthology of Long Prairie Poems – 1989
 * Liars and Rascals, anthology of Mennonite short stories – 1989
 * Prairie Fire: New Mennonite Writing – 1989
 * Mennonite/s Writing in Canada – 1990
 * The Perfect Piece, Monologues from Canadian Plays – 1990
 * Inscriptions, A Prairie Poetry Anthology – 1992
 * Let the Earth Take Note, First Anthology of the National Milton Acorn Festival from 1987 to 1991 – 1994
 * Poetry and Knowing, essays – 1995
 * Our Fathers, Poetry and Prose, by daughters and sons from the prairies – 1995
 * Instant Applause, Volume II, Thirty Very Short Complete Plays – 1996
 * Passeport: La Poésie Moderne de Langue Anglaise au Canada – 1998
 * Following the Plough: Recovering the Rural – 2000
 * New Life in Dark Seas: Brick Books 25 – 2000
 * Mocambo Nights: Poetry From the Mocambo Reading Series – 2001
 * The New Long Line Anthology, 2nd Edition – 2001
 * 15 Canadian Poets x 3 – 2001
 * Why I Sing the Blues – 2001
 * Instant Applause: Twenty-nine Very Short Complete Plays – 2004

Other works and collaborations

 * The Shunning, the Play, staged in 1985 by Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in 1992 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener, in 1992 by Trinity Theatre in Livonia, Michigan, in 1993 by MAUS Theatre in B.C., and in 1995 by Two Planks and a Passion in Nova Scotia.
 * Amanda, a short drama on CBC Radio Manitoba, 1986.
 * Anna, a dance/words collaboration with choreographer Stephanie Ballard, with guest artist Margie Gillis, performed in 1987 at the Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg.
 * Noah, a multi-disciplinary collaboration, presented as a working piece in 1987 at Main Access Gallery, Winnipeg.
 * Singer, a docu-drama on Richard Manuel for CBC Radio Manitoba, 1989 (with Big Dave McLean).
 * The Shunning, a one-hour radio adaptation for CBC Radio Canada, 1990 (producer: John Juliani).
 * Second Birth, a short drama for CBC Radio Canada, 1991.
 * Handful of Rain, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with Dance Collective, and various artists, performed at Gas Station Theatre, Winnipeg, April 1991.
 * The Raft, an original play, performed January 1992 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in February 1995 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener.
 * The Raft, adapted for CBC Radio Canada, by Nancy Trites Botkin (producer: Kathleen Flaherty), 1997.
 * Friday, 6:32 p.m., an original short play written for the Short Shots series, staged by the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, 1993.
 * Old Woman and the Bones, collaboration with composer Michael Matthews, the musical group Thira, and Primus Theatre, staged at the New Music Festival in Winnipeg in February 1993.
 * Madrugada (a longer version of Old Woman and the Bones), performed by Groundswell and Primus Theatre at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, April 1995.
 * The Shunning, adapted, choreographed and performed by Motus O dance theatre at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, 13–17 Sept. 1995.
 * Broken Bowl (a segment from A Broken Bowl), created, performed with jazz pianist Marilyn Lerner, Sunstone Coffee, Winnipeg, 17 July 1996, at The Glass Slipper, Vancouver, 3 Oct 1996, four performances at the Atlantic Jazz Festival, Halifax, July 1997, and recorded by CBC Radio Manitoba, and called Blue Door (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.
 * Voice, a radio documentary (featuring Big Dave McLean and Tracey Dahl), by CBC Radio Manitoba (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.

Film

 * Esther Warkov: A Spy in the House; producer – 1983.
 * Don Proch: The Spirit of Assessippi; writer/producer/director – 1985.
 * Patrick Lane; director/producer – 1985.
 * A Ritual of Horses: The Art of Michael Olito; director – 1987.
 * Rising to Dance, a documentary on senior students at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet; director – 1990.
 * Together As One: A Dance Collaboration; writer/director/producer – 1991.